iPhone 14 Saves Man's Life After He Plummeted 400 Feet Into Canyon

[MacRumors]

A man was saved by his iPhone 14's emergency features on Friday evening after he drove his car off a cliff and plummeted 400 feet into a canyon in the Mount Wilson area near Los Angeles, according to the local CBS affiliate.

The two iPhone 14 features that helped to save the man's life were Crash Detection and Emergency SOS via satellite. First, the iPhone automatically detected a severe car crash. Second, the device automatically sent a text message to an emergency relay center via satellite connection, since the crash site was outside of the range of cellular and Wi-Fi coverage. The message included precise location information, and a local search and rescue team was able to find and rescue the man with use of a helicopter.

"He was 400 feet down in a canyon with virtually no way out," said Steve Goldsworthy, Rescue Operations Leader at Montrose Search and Rescue. "So, who knows when, or if, we would've located him." Another member of the search and rescue team said the man likely would have bled out had he not been rescued in a timely manner.

Crash Detection is enabled by default on all iPhone 14 models. In the U.S., Emergency SOS via satellite requires an iPhone 14 updated to iOS 16.1 or later.

Article Link: iPhone 14 Saves Man's Life After He Plummeted 400 Feet Into Canyon

 

[macsplusmacs]

Another sheriff said due to trees / brush and it being night and the time of day, it could have taken a helicopter 10 hours.

10 freaking hours to find him.

Kudos to the apple team that led this effort.

 

[h.gilbert]

Conveniently forgot to mention he fell down precisely because he was looking at his iPhone 14

 

[Apple Fan 2008]

Cue the flood of negative comments

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Excellent news! Savings lives over here.

Only iPhone is capable of doing this. No other smartphone exists in this world that can report crash detection as the iPhone 14.

 

[podycust]

In France, Germany, Ireland and the UK you need iOS 16.2
In Australia, Austria, Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Portugal you need iOS 16.4

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT213426

As macrumors doesn't seem to think any other country exists! 😂

 

[anthogag]

It could be an Apple commercial.

Apple Maps app on Watch leads user to fall in canyon. Watch then saves man's life. 😂

 

[NMBob]

How did it talk to the sats without being held up toward them, or don't you have to do that?

 

[ThatGuyInLa]

Note. Remember to turn phone off, first.

 

[himanshumodi]

Forget the phone. What car was he driving? Surviving a 400 ft drop, and surviving, feels like a solid car!

 

[iLoveDeveloping]

That’s amazing technology!!! Hope he is ok. I actually just learned the iPhone can text emergency services via satellite ON ITS OWN! Like why is Apple not saying this!? That’s insanely cool! I literally just read it last night in the iPhone user guide.

 

[iLoveDeveloping]

Note. Remember to turn phone off, first.

What? Lovely kind comment when a man nearly died. What a lovely human you must be.

 

[cocky jeremy]

It could be an Apple commercial.

Apple Maps app on Watch leads user to fall in canyon. Watch then saves man's life. 😂

That's user error, Michael Scott. lol.

 

[QuiteSure]

What? Lovely kind comment when a man nearly died. What a lovely human you must be.

I'm not even sure what that comment meant.

 

[cuencap]

Forget the phone. What car was he driving? Surviving a 400 ft drop, and surviving, feels like a solid car!

A similar story occurred in January in San Mateo County. Driver was driving his family of 4, including two children under 10, in a Tesla. All survived a 350 foot plunge off a cliff. He got arrested. Sad story but happy ending considering the possibilities. Google it to read more details.

 

[phenste]

truly incredible. features like this keep me loyal to Apple.

 

[doboy]

Apple, fighting against the natural selection j/k

Also, that guy was lucky that this didn't happen during the ski season since the first responders would've been too busy responding to false crash detection alerts.

 

[Blackstick]

It was a painful decision, but it was just the right marketing opportunity to push him off the ledge and get the story for Tim's iPhone 15 intro at the September event.

 

[Marx55]

Sure. And thousands seriously injured and killed every single day worldwide due to accidents caused by smartphones (including iPhones) usage while driving cars and other activities. Actually, it is a worldwide plague.

 

[MacProFCP]

Once again, Apple makes a product feature that is revolutionary.

Google and Samsung will likely announce this in the coming year.

 

[Eldaerenth Faexidor]

In 2040 the iPhone Pro will have anti-gravitational thrusters that will soften your landing when you accidentally plummet into a ravine. As one would expect the iPhone Pro supplies could be constrained at launch due to gravitational thrusters manufacturing issues. But hey, what else is new?

 

[elvisimprsntr]

Note to self:

1. Don’t speed, especially on narrow canyon roads at night
2. Keep both hands on the wheel and eyes on the road
3. Don’t text and drive
4. Don’t drink and drive

Tiger W learned the same hard lesson.

 

[jamface]

What? Lovely kind comment when a man nearly died. What a lovely human you must be.

 

[polyphenol]

The prime take home message is surely to not drive your car off a cliff - rather than to make sure you have an up to date iPhone?

 

[mthomas184]

The prime take home message is surely to not drive your car off a cliff - rather than to make sure you have an up to date iPhone?

Where would the fun be in that tho?